Posted
on March 12, 2010, 10:50 am,
by admin,
under Internet.
I’m here waiting for my new DOCIS3.0 modem to arrive from the Comcast man (1.5 hours into my 3 hour install window). So in preparation I decided to do one last ‘normal’ cable modem test before the new one comes in.
Actually the speeds today are not that bad. I guess everyone is off at work now and not browsing the net. I’ll update this post later with the speedtest.net results for the new service.
Old “Normal” Cable Modem:
UPDATE:
After a few fits and starts, we now have DOCSIS 3.0 service. It required me to replace my 7 year old router (who’d of thunk that?) but now all systems are go and we have, ta da, 60mb down.
@christinelu btw, many folks report an easier time getting a 1 yr Chinese visa at consulate in Hong Kong vs. US-based consulates., fwiw. in reply to christinelu#
End of an era. Last test firing a Space Shuttle Solid Rocket booster. Video: http://bit.ly/bJEkYW#
Just bought about $4,000 in supplies and stuff pre-Hong Kong trip. And none of it on computers Movers to pack for HK (Monday). #
@thekenyeung I think they've shared a printing facility for a number of years. Always thought it would be the other way around though. in reply to thekenyeung#
Posted
on February 27, 2010, 8:24 am,
by admin,
under Science, Weather.
Amazing what the Tsunami researchers can create in just a few minutes after a major earthquake.
Here is a potential impact map from the 8.8 Chilean earthquake this morning. ETA to Hawaii is about 11:19 am, which is 14 hours after the first earthquake.
Posted
on February 26, 2010, 10:43 am,
by admin,
under Olympics.
The world is a strange place.
Stephen Holcomb is the driver for the US 4-man bobsled team that starts racing today and also a bit of a nerd, more or less. Check out his “Where in the World Is Matt-like” video that he created over the last World Cup season.
Posted
on February 25, 2010, 9:54 am,
by admin,
under Music.
It is crazy here. We’re not only trying to pack the things we own but trying to stock up on things we like that we cannot get (easily) in Hong Kong. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Costco (evil) and grocery stores and Target and Ikea over the last week. I haven’t had a chance to catch up on new dance tracks at all in the last few weeks.
I learn more in one minute on Friendfeed than five minutes of sorting through noise on Buzz http://ff.im/gazpz#
Napping on couch watching curling telling myself I am not lazy as at least it is not bowling on TV. #
@thekenyeung I copy down all their settings and try to recreate the same photos, but it never works just right. Still learning. in reply to thekenyeung#
Dick Button ranting about figure skaters grabbing their skates during performances. World does not stop to take notice. #
Arrest warrant for Tour de France cyclist Floyd Landis for computer hacking. Weird. http://bit.ly/cl5xGe#
Just sold my second US Olympic Team Opening Ceremony Hat–this one for $500. Only one more left http://bit.ly/aflae0#
@techmama Point out to your kid that the Chinese pair skated to the theme from Highlander, which is pretty cool. There can be only one! in reply to techmama#
Watching figure skaters perform to the song that was in the movie Highlander. There can be only one! #
@SLOGUNNER I got 2 for my kids & the lady was like 'do you want 1'. I said 'ok sell it pay for the others'. But at that price, all on sale. in reply to SLOGUNNER#
@jlcoassin That's why they included curling–so anyone of any age or condition can continue to have the Olympic dream, even into their 50s. in reply to jlcoassin#
My Polo Team USA Olympic hat finally sold, for $510 on ebay. wtf? I'll take it. Gotta love being trendy. http://bit.ly/9yqEHz#
My Polo Olympic Opening Ceremony hat is now over $400 on ebay. Guess there is a bit of a demand. http://bit.ly/98Uzbh#
Posted
on February 19, 2010, 8:30 am,
by admin,
under Space.
An Atlas V rocket passes through a layer of ice crystals just as it goes supersonic, with the sonic boom creating an amazing visual that could be seen from the ground.
Posted
on February 18, 2010, 9:49 am,
by admin,
under Olympics.
Much is being made about the Polo Reindeer Cap from the opening ceremony being the hottest fashion item of the Winter Games, but now it seems it has been supplanted by something a bit more garish being the sought after ‘must have’ for Olympic fans (which good for me too as I’ve sold my Polo hats for as much as $500 each on Ebay).
The crazy pants for the Norwegian curling team are turning heads throughout Vancouver. Red, white and blue plaid would look more appropriate on the golf course than the curling ice, which helps explain how the Norway team was able to get the pants. The captain of the team went online to LoudMouthGolf.com to order these pants just before the Olympics. Only $99 if you can still find a pair (and I should note their website is getting pounded).
Unfortunately for Norway the pants were no help yesterday as Canada beat Norway 7-6.
Posted
on February 17, 2010, 4:25 pm,
by admin,
under Olympics.
Must be nice to have a deep pocketed corporate sponsor to build you your own personal snowboarding halfpipe. You can read more about it here on his personal website.
While often thought of as synonymous with ice resurfacing, Zamboni is actually a trademark of a specific machine. The Olympic committee, in an effort to ‘go green’ decided not to use the tried and tested Zamboni but an electronic Olympia machine.
The first one belched up a bunch of snow on the long track speed skating oval.
Then the backup did the same thing.
Then the emergency backup shredded the ice to the point some teams wanted a postponment of the race.
That was it. Back to the standby and an airlift mission was tasked to fly a true Zamboni out to Vancouver so that the ice resurfacing can go ahead without fail.
Posted
on February 15, 2010, 3:38 pm,
by admin,
under Olympics, Sports.
The NBC Olympics site is really trying some pretty cool things this Olympics. They have Facebook pages and Twitter feeds (both of which allow you to submit questions to the on-air announcers), but one of the newer items is a real time Twitter visualization so you can see what the Tweeting masses are talking about as they watch the games. This is a pretty neat capture of what folks are talking about in real time, and I can’t wait to see it tonight when some announcer says something dumb. Will be interesting to watch.
Posted
on February 14, 2010, 9:41 am,
by admin,
under Olympics.
One thing that always amuses me during the Olympics is the nationalistic jingoism that is often displayed, mainly in an anti-USA manner by fans from other parts of the world. It can be silly, like saying ‘Chanting USA-USA is Nazi-like’ but Greek fans in Athens chanting ‘Hellas-Hellas’ is part of the Olympic spirit.” One other way it manifests itself is in the endless debate about the medal table.
I’ve spoken about this before during the medal debate in Beijing. There are two ways of counting medals by country at the Olympics. By the number of golds, then silvers, then bronze, or by the overall number of medals. The United States media generally reports on the overall number of medals, whereas most of the rest of the world reports on who has the highest number of gold medals. Thus a country with 1 gold would appear higher than a country with 6 silvers and 10 bronze medals in some tables. This has led to some countries like Russia criticizing the Gold First standard saying ‘how can a country with 12 medalists be said to have a ‘poorer’ Olympics than a country with just one medal?’ Some commentators have suggested a ‘points system‘ whereby a bronze is worth 1/5 of a Gold or something like that. Sounds very silly (it’s a British idea so yeah, it is very silly).
Officially–there is no ranking. The Olympic charter forbids it:
The IOC and the OCOG shall not draw up any global ranking per country. A roll of honour bearing the names of medal winners and those awarded diplomas in each event shall be established by the OCOG and the names of the medal winners shall be featured prominently and be on permanent display in the main stadium.
However, there is an unofficial ‘media alert’ that the IOC puts out that has the medal table in the order of Golds first. This started back around the 2000 Olympics and the IOC won’t comment on the debate because “officially, we don’t publish a table”. How bureaucratically convenient. UPDATE: It appears that the Vancouver 2010 committee has decided to publish their list in a ‘total medals’ format, but the European media continues to follow a Gold first standard.
Which is better? Who really cares. In the end it is about athletes and their own personal quests and sacrifices to become the best in the world. Some of them have help from nations, some do not. If you see someone arguing the point that one counting system is inherently better or worse than the other, than you have found someone worth ignoring for the rest of the Olympics.
Movers to pack for HK (Monday). 
